ASAN is deeply troubled by the Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson. On Friday, June 28, the Supreme Court held that enforcing camping bans on public property against people who are unhoused is not cruel and unusual punishment as long as the laws about camping apply to everyone, including people who are housed. The Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. The Court’s ruling means that people who cannot afford housing may be fined or even jailed for sleeping outdoors, even if there are not enough non-religious shelter beds for everyone who is unhoused in a particular community. We know that equal enforcement of an unjust law does not mean fair enforcement of a law. Today’s decision allows for an anti-camping law to be enforced even against people who have no choice but to sleep outdoors. This makes life harder for people experiencing homelessness and criminalizes it. This ruling opens the door for other jurisdictions to create similar laws.
This decision will disproportionately harm people experiencing homelessness, especially unhoused disabled people. People with disabilities are more likely to be unhoused or deal with housing insecurity than people without disabilities. In 2023, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimated nearly one-third of individuals experiencing homelessness are experiencing chronic homelessness and have a disability.
Many factors contribute to increased homelessness among people with disabilities. Disabled renters report being less caught up on rent than the general population. This is often because rent continues to rise above what low-income households can afford. Many disabled people are also restricted by SSI asset limits and subminimum wage, which allows employers to legally pay people with disabilities less than minimum wage. These programs trap people in poverty and make it impossible to pay the rent on even a small apartment in many communities. Housing requires having a steady source of income. Disabled people are much less likely than non-disabled people to have a job and disabled people face pay gaps at work. Homelessness is not a moral failing. Homelessness is directly tied to the cost of housing and rent-to-income ratio.
Housing is expensive, and saving money is more difficult as a disabled person due to a host of factors. Being disabled is expensive. Households with an adult with a disability that limits their work need, on average, over $17,000 more a year to have the same standard of living as a nondisabled person. Many people with disabilities need features in housing that would be considered “luxuries” and therefore priced higher. For example, a person with a physical disability might need to live in an apartment building with a doorman or receptionist who can help them carry packages up to their apartment. A person with Tourette’s Syndrome, whose tics cause them to make loud and unpredictable noises at all hours, may need to live in a single-family home so they do not disturb neighbors through thin walls. Many homes are inaccessible. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act requires only 5% of units to be accessible for mobility disabilities and 2% to be accessible for visual and hearing disabilities, but the prevalence of mobility disabilities is 12%, visual disabilities 5%, and hearing disabilities 6%. Disabled people who are able to afford housing often face discrimination. The 2023 Fair Housing Trends Report notes that discrimination based on disability accounts for more than half of complaints filed (53.26%) with Fair Housing Enforcement Organizations (FHO), HUD, and Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP). These factors can all contribute to disabled people becoming unhoused.
We cannot allow people experiencing homelessness to be criminalized for their lack of resources and community supports. Our country must prioritize community-based resources — and recognize people experiencing homelessness as part of our communities. We know that options like supportive housing and employment, peer support services, and other community-based services are more effective, and far less harmful to our community, than criminal prosecution and jail time.
ASAN calls on Congress and state legislatures to better protect unhoused people through greater funding for homelessness and housing services and legislation to protect homeless people from criminalization for camping in public. We also call upon HUD to re-release the “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” rule proposed in 2023. This rule would require state and local governments who receive HUD funding to get rid of segregation and other discriminatory practices in housing, which disproportionately impact people with disabilities, people of color, and other marginalized groups.
All people deserve to live self-directed lives in the community of their choosing. Criminalization and institutionalization of people experiencing homelessness cannot be the answer — we must end the housing crisis and ensure that all people have access to safe and adequate places to live. ASAN will continue to fight for all disabled people to have the right to live in the community, and our government must do the same.
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network seeks to advance the principles of the disability rights movement with regard to autism. ASAN believes that the goal of autism advocacy should be a world in which autistic people enjoy equal access, rights, and opportunities. We work to empower autistic people across the world to take control of our own lives and the future of our common community, and seek to organize the autistic community to ensure our voices are heard in the national conversation about us. Nothing About Us, Without Us!